


Cottage by the Forest

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Domestic use of powers, Families of Choice, First Meetings, Gen, Home Invasion, Hopeful Ending, Past Domestic Violence, Pre-X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 05:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20204134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Magda comes home with her little one, having fetched a few things from her sister's house. There is a man on her sofa - and initially she fears a burglar, or her ex-husband, until a knife floats through the air and she realises that this man is someone else entirely.





	Cottage by the Forest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sebastian2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/gifts).

> My take on Erik and Magda's first meeting.
> 
> This is all Sebastian2017's fault. Apart from the very end, which is Lynds fault. And Lourdesdeath is amazing and I'm glad they betaed this!
> 
> Content warnings: There are mentions of domestic violence here (not between any of the characters shown), along with brief and non-detailed references to the Holocaust.

Magda stared down at the little girl in her arms. Nina was asleep for now, her six month old form swaddled in a blanket and peaceful. Magda's heart was full of love for her. Nina was perfect, worth all the challenges that had accompanied her birth, all the hardships of trying to raise a child alone. Nina was perfect. She pressed a kiss to the soft curls of dark hair that escaped the blanket, balancing her as she unlocked the door, pausing to press a finger to the mezuzah as she passed. 

She stepped into the house, placing down the basket of things that she had collected from her sister's home, then locked the door. She carried Nina inside, humming to her softly. She was exhausted, but she could put Nina into her cot, and then unpack, and maybe then get some sleep.

She walked through the doorway, and saw there was someone on the sofa. Her heartbeat raced, and she weighed up her options. She knew that screaming wouldn't get her help, she'd tried that before. She had to run. 

At that moment, the figure on the sofa opened his eyes. She leaned down, placing Nina on the floor behind a cabinet, her heart racing. He stared at her coldly.

There was something about his face that looked familiar. She couldn't place it - one of her ex-husband's friends perhaps, a man whose name she hadn't learned, and he was looking at her with wild eyes. She whimpered despite herself, and a moment later there was a knife at her neck.

The man in question was still on her sofa, looking at her, but there was a blade at her throat. She knew, now, where she had seen him before.

This wasn't a home invasion, and this wasn't one of her ex-husband's friends. This was that mutant who had stood in front of the world's cameras, and spoken of his hatred for humankind, of the fact they feared mutants. He hated humans, and he was here, in her little cottage, with her, with Nina. 

She had spent a long time trying to live a quiet life, to put aside the horrors of her youth, and now here he was. The man who had said he would rule the earth, who would unleash devastation on those who fought back. He was in her house, and she could feel her eyes filling with tears. 

Nina started to cry, and the knife clattered to the floor at her feet.

"Pick the child up," the man, Magneto, told her, and she reached down, picking up her daughter, rocking her soothingly, murmuring under her breath. 

"It's alright little maus, it's alright, mummy loves you..." She looked up at the man.

"Please don't hurt her," she spoke to him, and he shook his head, beckoning her closer. More metal lifted into the air - some coins, and she could see that their edges were damp with blood. The coins floated in front of Nina's face, and her crying quieted, as she stared up at the metal. 

Magda glanced over at the man, to see him looking at Nina with a fond smile on his face.  
"Her name is Nina," Magda supplied. "And I am Magda, this is our home."

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I did mean to leave before anyone returned here." There was a sincerity to those words that startled her. For the first time, she looked at him closer, noticed how pale he was, saw the dark stain on her sofa and the floor, and realised that he must be bleeding.

"You're hurt."

"I am. Sorry to disturb your peace. I simply wanted to rest somewhere and... I thought this house was empty." His words were a little shaky, but he was still holding those coins in the air, making her baby daughter giggle.

Magda frowned a little, still cuddling Nina against her.  
"So... was your great plan to just die on my sofa or-"

"I've sewn up the injury," the man answered. "I just needed some time to recover my strength. But I can leave now-" He went to stand, and staggered slightly. Magda flinched. She knew what it was like to try and hide injuries, to pretend that you weren't weak when you were in agony. 

"Please, stay." She said quickly. "I... I want to cook myself a meal, and... I don't feel very safe, not after finding a strange man in my house, so you should stay and eat with me at least."

He looked at her curiously, and she shrugged, pushing up her sleeve to show him her tattoo. "I'm human. And I... I know you don't like us. But if you don't harm me or my daughter, I'm sure I can manage some food for someone who needs it."

He nodded, and she placed Nina down in a cradle. He waved over the iron from its resting place by the stove, weighting one side of the cradle, and then lifting it with a flick of his hand to rock it. Magda watched him, wondering if she was really considering allowing the man who had tried to murder the American president to babysit her daughter.

Nina seemed happy, so she decided she'd survive this for now, and went to cook. She prepared a quick meal, and put the two plates on the table.  
"Magneto, the food's ready-"

He staggered in, taking the water she offered him without question, and sat down in a chair.  
"Erik. But I need to think of a new name if I am to hide... I will go in the morning-"

Magda looked at this man, who had been gentle with her daughter, who looked like he was on the verge of bleeding to death, and made a split second decision which would affect the shape of the rest of her life.  
"I need someone to repair my fence, my ex-husband smashed it, and deer keep getting into our garden. I don't suppose you could take a look? I just... I worry he'll get into the house somehow."

"He hurt you?" Erik asked, looking at her in what could only be described as concern. 

She nodded slightly.  
"I left him. I couldn't risk him hurting Nina as well."

"I won't let him hurt you again," Erik said, his voice firm with determination. "Either of you."

Logically, Magda knew she should feel afraid of being alone in the house with a man like Erik. But he'd chosen her house, out of all of those on the street, and his tattoo matched hers. He'd taken care of her daughter, and he looked almost relieved not to have to run any more. 

After their meal, Erik sat beside Nina's crib, singing to her softly. He halted a little, seeming unsure of the words, but then he carried on humming, and he made sure she was comfortable, before he floated the crib up the stairs.  
"You two should sleep. Don't worry, I can't make it up the stairs in this condition even if I wanted to hurt you," Erik murmured, and Magda realised he'd taken some scrap metal from a tin she had used to create supports around the crib, to let him carry it.

She smiled fondly at him, and walked over, embracing him gently.  
"Goodnight Erik."

***

One night became a week, a month, three years. Every so often at first, Erik would mutter about leaving, and she would invent another task that she needed a man's help with. When she admitted she had no money now, he went and got himself a job, gave her all his wages. He'd rest beside her in the evenings, his head on her lap, and he'd seem calm.

He told her this was the greatest peace he had ever known.

Nina called him Papa, and he called her Maus. He sang her to sleep every night, and Magda felt safe. They got a dog to guard their house, and he hid who he was from everyone else. Things were peaceful.

Until the day she caught Nina talking to the dog, asking it to turn in circles and jump up and down and roll over and open the cabinet and fetch her favourite doll. And a few days later, there was a robin on Nina's hand.

She walked over to Erik, wrapping her arm around his waist.  
"I think that's more of your area of expertise, dear," she murmured, pointing at the little girl. Erik's eyes widened, but he nodded.

"I know someone in America who might be able to help. He runs a school and..." 

Magda knew who he meant. The man that he spoke of with such love, the man who had broken his heart, who he had hurt, and yet... for their daughter, Erik would put aside his pride. She nodded, leaning up to kiss his cheek.  
"I think that might be good."


End file.
